LOCKDOWN ELEGY

A visual elegy of the corona era—19 images from before, during, and after lockdown in China, Germany, and Japan that reveal how solitude, tension, and fragile beauty intertwined under the conditions of severe restriction.

Concept and Story

This work conveys emotion and narrative as a musical diary, rather than a documentary record: a prelude of ordinary days, a central movement of dissonance and suspension, and a coda in which small freedom re-emerged in the midst of uncertainty.

Context

While lockdown was not experienced in the same way everywhere, certain sensibilities resonated across regions: vulnerability, a longing for meaning, and quiet metamorphoses of perception.

During this time, I was living in Shanghai with my family. One evening the city of 26 million abruptly entered a strict lockdown, transforming daily life into an intense and extraordinary experience. Movement stopped; testing was in an endless loope; each promised reopening was postponed. The absence of perspective created a climate of uncertainty and hopelessness. Yet within this suspended time, subtle forms of beauty became perceptible. And spiritual connection with others—even across distance—was how confinement was endured.

Form and Approach

The work takes shape as a photobook-in-progress, composed of about 80 images. Its sequencing is designed like a score: arranged as diary entries that echo musical notes, carrying rhythm, pause, and resonance to mirror the lived tempo, atmosphere, and feelings of the time.